Is autism a disease of the cerebellum? An integration of clinical and pre-clinical research

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Summary and conclusions
In attempting to answer the question, “Is autism a disease of the cerebellum,” it is apparent from clinical research that developmental damage to the cerebellum is a common occurrence in ASD. Pre-clinical research confirms clinical observations that there are multiple routes to developmental cerebellar damage including genetic mutations, viral exposure, or exposure to environmental toxins. Rodent models of autism both confirm often reported clinical findings and also extend these findings by providing candidate pathways deserving of further research, although both types of research are potentially limited by questions about the selectivity of cerebellar abnormalities as opposed to the rest of the brain. It is however intriguing to note that developmental damage to the cerebellum is frequently associated with a diagnosis of ASD in humans, and in rodents cerebellar neuropathology is associated with many autism-like cognitive deficits. Thus, a parsimonious answer to this initial question is, “Yes,” in many cases it is likely that autism is associated with developmental cerebellar damage.

Is developmental cerebellar damage the only route to the symptoms of autism? We believe that the most likely answer to this question is “No,” simply because the heterogeneity of symptoms as well as the range of symptom severity from savant skills to profound mental and physical handicaps makes it unlikely that there is a unitary cause for these disorders.

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